[AndrewBissell]

FWIW, I post tons of unrelenting criticism of the CIA and the Western establishment and haven't encountered anything like this. The worst I've seen from mods was back in 2019 when they would constantly flag links about ties between Jeffrey Epstein and leading tech industry figures.

The "posting too fast" limit is just a brake which as far as I have seen is applied fairly and helps keep HN discussions on the rails (my own posting emphatically included). I think it's possible mods reacted harshly to your criticizing it.

That said, I think pretty much every forum or venue is subject to some of this kind of manipulation. I certainly get an immediate torrent of downvotes whenever one of my comments is particularly pointed or "conspiratorial."